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FG reviews Second Niger Bridge, Deep Seaports projects

The
Director General of the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, Mr
Aminu Dikko, has asked the Ministry of Works to carry out a review of the cost
of the second Niger Bridge.

Also under review, according to Dikko, are the three deep seaports projects.

He told newsmen in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammdu Buhari that
there were few issues against the actualisation of the project.

According to him “The second Niger
bridge is one of the projects that we discussed with the president. We did say
yes it is in the commission for regulatory oversight. We have been discussing
the transaction with the Ministry of Works.

“But before it can be finalised the commission has to give a certificate of
compliance, but we haven’t done that because we have seen a lot of issues that
we are uncomfortable with.

“We are talking with the Ministry of Works for them to correct it. The communities
around that area are clamouring that their lands have been taken and that they
have not been compensated adequately.

”As a matter of fact, we got a letter from Onitsha Traditional Council
complaining that they have not been adequately represented in this transaction.

“We are not saying that something has not been done properly but we need to be
convinced that these few problems are sorted properly.

“We
will also talk about the actual cost of the bridge, eventually we have asked
the ministry of works to review it and justify how much the project should
cost.”

On the status of the project, Dikko said he had no idea.

“What I need to tell Nigerians is that Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) take
a long time to mature.

There is a difference between the project which you have
money in your pocket or in your account and you just bring it out and tell
somebody to go and do it, but when it is PPP transaction you first engage a
number of people: you have banker, lawyers, engineers.

They
all collaborate to form consortium for that transaction.

“For the second Niger Bridge there will be a lot of studies that needs to be
done on the integrity of the bridge itself which will take time.

“It is not something we can see being
completed in the next six months. I will like us to be patient about it, we
know that it is a critical road we also know how Nigerians suffer during
festive holidays and we hear people sleep on that old bridge. The time has come
for us to bring succour Nigerians.”

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), disclosed that it
has spent the sum of $2.21 million on consultancy services for the construction
of the Second Niger Bridge.

The money was spent on due diligence and project development phases of the
project which gulped $247,586 and $1.96 million respectively.

The second Niger Bridge which will include adjacent roads is estimated to cover
11.9 kilometres is expected to be constructed within 48 months. The bridge will
have three lanes with three in each direction.

The project was initially estimated to cost N108 billion excluding duties and
VAT and N117.9 billion with duties and VAT.

Dikko also revealed yesterday that the proposed three deep sea port for Nigeria
have been estimated to cost of about $6 billion, adding that the projects are
being reviewed with the Ministry of Transport.

He said that very soon, his agency would come out with a position on the
projects.